PEOPLE might be hard up, but they are not willing to risk using cheap condoms, the boss of Durex has said.
Reckitt, the consumer goods giant, said lovers are still prepared to pay a premium price — despite its recent rise for a pack of 12.
Brits are still forking out for Durex condoms despite price rise and cost of living crisis
SE has reported that a packet of “thin feel extra” Durex condoms had shot up 40 per cent — from £9.99 to £13.99 — in the past year.
Reckitt said its health division, which includes Durex and its Dettol cleaning brand, had raised prices by another five per cent over the past three months, but it reported that sales volumes were still growing slightly.
Kris Licht, the chief executive, said Durex was still seeing good growth and there was less willingness by shoppers to switch to cheaper brands.
He predicted that the business had now gone “through the largest price increases” and that an easing of inflation meant any future rises would be more modest.
Mr Licht added that the company has remained “strong, competitive, resilient” — having made £11billion in sales in the year to date.
Reckitt is now planning to launch a £1billion share buyback.
Sinking down
DRINKERS need more beer money to keep downing Heineken, as the brewer admitted sales of its pricey pints have fallen.
The world’s second-biggest brewer reported a slide in sales in the UK after raising prices by almost ten per cent in the past year.
Heineken has admitted sales of its pricey pints have fallen
Heineken said “a high, single-digit price mix was offset by a total volume decline”.
The Dutch brewer also owns Amstel and Sol and has launched Spanish lager Cruza Campo in the UK this year. But it sold 4.2 per cent fewer drinks globally in the past three months than in the same period last year.
Cash-strapped drinkers are also shunning expensive beer, with sales of Heineken’s premium lager falling by 5.7 per cent globally.
The average price of a pint of lager has risen to £4.62 but some pubs in London charge as much as £7 for Heineken.
James Edwardes Jones, analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, said Heineken’s sales volumes had disappointed the market and that “recent price rises have been much larger than its peers”.
Heineken has blamed a 50 per cent hike in barley prices for the rises.
AT LEAST THERE IS CINEMA…
Hit film Barbie has boosted the sales of Mattel
THE hit Barbie film has boosted Mattel.
The US toy giant last night said Barbie doll sales had shot up 16 per cent to $605million (£500million) in the past three months, compared to the period last year.
It comes after years of falling sales as children increasingly opt for tech gadgets. Boss Ynon Kreiz hailed the film as a “key milestone for Mattel”.
Shares rose 13 per cent on the back of it, but they have dipped since.
The film took £1billion at the box office and Mattel has hoped for £100million in royalties.